High-altitude encounters between U.S. and Russian aircraft are "not an uncommon occurrence," a White House spokesman said Tuesday in confirming a U.S. reconnaissance drone had been forced down by a Russian warplane over the Black Sea.
Such encounters have been happening for months as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing for the past year, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing on the incident.
The unmanned drone, an MQ-9 reconnaissance aircraft, was hit on the propeller by a Russian SU-27 fighter jet, Kirby told reporters.
"This one, obviously, is noteworthy because of how unsafe and unprofessional it was, and indeed, reckless that it was, in causing the downing of one of our aircraft," Kirby said. "So it's unique in that regard."
The drone was in international airspace the whole time and splashed down in international waters, Kirby said. The United States does not believe it needs to tell Russia in advance of the flights, which it has been doing for more than a year, he added.
In a twist likely to surprise many in the U. S., but not in Moscow, Russian officials are calling the encounter a provocative action. This, according to their homeland's RIA state news agency. It cited Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, as saying as much on Tuesday.
"We view this incident as a provocation," Antonov said after being summoned by the U.S. State Department.
The Pentagon's claim that the jets struck a drone propeller were roundly denied by Antonov. Indeed, Russia has denied that any contact was made and says the drone crashed after "sharp maneuvering."
Antonov said his meeting at the State Department was "constructive" and the issue of possible "consequences" for Moscow over the incident was not raised, RIA reported.
"As for us, we do not want any confrontation between the United States and Russia. We are in favor of building pragmatic relations for the benefit of the Russian and American peoples," Antonov was quoted as saying.
Kirby, meanwhile, said the flights will continue, but The New York Times reported that it is unclear whether the State Department lodged an official complaint with the Kremlin.
"If the message is that they want to deter or dissuade us from flying and operating in international airspace, over the Black Sea, then that message will fail, because that is not going to happen," Kirby said. "The Black Sea belongs to no one nation. And we are going to continue to do what we need to do for our own national security interest in that part of the world."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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